Skinny Love
by Morria
Summary: Melanie Arnolds had never been particularly good at making friends, but there was just something about him. That boy, Johnny Cade. Johnny x OC
1. Chapter 1

Skinny Love: When two people love each other but are too shy to admit it, although they still show it.

**Okay, so I recently read _The Outsiders _for my language arts class as part of our curriculum, and I fell in love with the story and the characters. This story is Johnny x OC, Johnny and Dally LIVE. They won't die, you guys. Don't worry. When it comes to writing, I usually prefer to get the ideas out there and then fix it later, so there will be problems with this story, as it is unedited. I'd really appreciate it if you guys helped me find typos in my work as well! Feel free to suggest ideas, as for at least the beginning of the story, I'm just writing it as I go along (later on it will follow the story), so if you have an idea or request go ahead and tell me and it might show up in one of the chapters! I'm trying not to make her a Mary-Sue, so if you guys start getting hints of Sue-ness tell me!**

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><p>Mellie awoke with a sharp crack of lightning in the sky and a buzzing in the air. Thunder rolled, booming and ominous, alerting everyone of the impending storm's presence with a deep groan. Mellie moaned and looked at her clock, which told her it was time to get up anyways. She had forgotten to set her alarm and was running late.<p>

Maneuvering through the various cardboard boxes, she grabbed a white blouse and blue skirt from her closet and hastily dressed. Next, she ran to the bathroom across the hall to quickly apply some mascara. Running a brush through her auburn hair, she exited the hall into the living room to put on her shoes and grab her bag and required books. As she opened the door, she was hit by a gust of moist wind. There was no time to grab an umbrella. Damn.

Fortunately, Will Rogers High was only a few blocks away from her house. Shoving everything into her backpack, she sprinted down the sidewalk in an attempt to get away from the thick, fat, raindrops showering her. Today was _not _the day to wear white. Whoops.

Finally, the high school came into view. She scrambled up the steps, tripping multiple times in the process, and heaved the large glass doors open. Her nice shoes squeaked with every step and she left small puddles in her wake. Mellie reached into her bag and searched for her schedule through her large bag.

She pulled it out from underneath a particularly large textbook and found the first class: English.

After slipping on the floor twice and getting lost three times, Mellie located the classroom ( Room E10). She stumbled through the doorway and stopped the teacher in the middle of assigning a seating chart. With everybody's eyes on her, Mellie shrank back awkwardly.

"Um.. I'm Melanie Arnolds? I'm sorry I'm late. I got lost, and it was raining.." She said quietly, feeling self conscious as she realized that her hair lay flat against her head, soaked by the rain, and that the top half of her shirt was partially see through from the water. The teacher, Mrs. Pyne, peered at her through her half-moon spectacles before sighing.

"I'll excuse it this time since you are new, but do not make this a habit, Miss Arnolds. Take a seat there in the back, next to Mr. Cade." Mrs. Pyne said, and Mellie immediately went to the back of the room and sat down next to a tan skinned boy with dark eyes and hair. She looked at him and blushed as his dark eyes settled on her. He was very handsome. Hoping he didn't notice her red cheeks, she introduced herself.

"Hi. I'm Mellie" She said quietly. She was never much of a talker. He paused for a moment, and his eyes were wide, as if he couldn't believe she was talking to him. She stuck her damp hand out for him to shake. He looked down at it before slowly gripping her hand and shaking it.

"I'm Johnny." He said, and she gave him a timid smile. She debated on whether or not to continue the conversation.

"I-" She paused

"It's nice to meet you." She said, and this time he gave her a small smile.

"You too."

And that's where it all began.

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><p>After school, Mellie found herself dreading going home, where all that awaited her was an empty house and a ton of boxes she would probably end up unpacking. Sighing, she stuffed her geometry textbook into her bag and began her walk home. The rain had stopped, but the sky was cloudy and dark, and the air was cool with mist. If she weren't worried it would start raining again, Mellie would've said it was the perfect day to take a walk.<p>

As she stepped down the sidewalk, Mellie thought about something weird she saw at the school. She noticed how most people were sorted into two categories. One group seemed to be wealthy and popular, and the other wore jeans and smoked and seemed poorer. _Just like Johnny_, she thought. Not that she cared. Before her dad had finished college and become a lawyer, her family had little to no money. Her thoughts drifted back to the other students; she saw how the groups looked at one another. It was almost as if they hated each other. She would have to ask Johnny about that tomorrow.

Just as she suspected, Mellie came home to an empty house. Her dad was probably settling in to his new job, and her mom was probably out on the town buying clothes and things with her dad's money. Mellie sighed; sometimes she felt like her parents were stuck in a college student mentality and she was the only one with sense. Sure, her dad was a fairly successful lawyer, but most of the money was blown on dates for him and Mom or useless things. They were gone most of the time, but she couldn't bring herself to be mad at them. Mellie knew that her mom being pregnant with her threw a wrench into their plans for the future; her dad was 20 and her mother was 18 when Mellie was born, so they didn't really get the chance to be young and free.

Of course, Mellie knew that her parents cared about her. Why else would they try to make it up to her every birthday and Christmas, showering her with extravagancies?

She took off her shoes and set them by the door, carrying her backpack with her into her room to finish her homework. Mellie sat down on her bed and pulled out her geometry textbook, groaning. She was good at math, but she hated it with a passion. It was bad enough in elementary school when their math was just numbers. Now, they had numbers and letters and shapes. She knew that the quadrilateral was a parallelogram. Why did she have to prove it when she could just point at it? Mellie knew she would never need Geometry in her life; she aspired to be a chef. Shaking her head, she looked back to her homework with a sigh; it wasn't going to do itself.

In English class a week later, Mrs. Pyne glared at her students sternly from her seat behind her large oak desk. They were working on poetry, and students were pairing up to discuss different poems they were given and to find the meaning behind them. Well, that was the fun part. After that, they had to label the rhyme pattern, write down what type of poem it was, and had to point out internal rhymes.

Mellie and Johnny had teamed together to analyze a Robert Frost poem, trying to figure out the meaning. Well, more like Mellie was stuck and Johnny had to explain everything to her.

"But.. isn't he saying to take the road less travelled by?" She asked, confused. It literally said '_I took the one less travelled by'_. What more was there to it?

"Actually," Johnny said, pointing to a line. She leaned over and looked at what he was pointing to.

"It says 'the passing there / Had worn them really about the same.' so that means," He elaborated, waiting for her to figure it out, and she looked up, realizing just how close they were. She could smell the cigarette smoke from his jacket.

"Then.. both paths are equal? There isn't one less travelled by… right?" Mellie said uncertainly. Johnny nodded.

"It make more sense now?" He asked, peering at her through his shaggy bangs.

"Yeah. It does. Thanks, Johnny. You're a real good teacher." She replied with a smile.

Mellie sat down at an empty table in the cafeteria, picking at her school lunch. She gave it a curious sniff and immediately recoiled in disgust. Yep, she would start bringing her lunch to school with her. Mellie looked around the cafeteria as she reluctantly ate what she assumed was a suspicious looking lasagna and saw Johnny. Only, he wasn't eating, and he wasn't alone. He stood up against the wall, talking to a guy in a Mickey Mouse shirt with thick rusty sideburns, steely gray eyes, and a huge grin on his face. Next to him was another boy who looked a little bit younger, with red-brown hair, and a tall, lean boy who was laughing along to whatever Sideburns had just said. She noticed that Johnny was doing less talking; he was mainly nodding along to whatever Sideburns was saying. Apparently Mellie had been staring longer than she thought, because then she noticed that Sideburns was looking straight at her with an even bigger grin. Her eyes grew wide when Sideburns poked Johnny in the ribs and gestured to her. Mellie quickly looked down at her tray and hastily took a bite, acting as if nothing happened.

As she stood up to throw away her food, she heard some girls walking by mutter under her breath.

"Look at those Greasers, stinking up the place with their cigarettes and dirt. The nerve of those Hoods.." She whispered angrily to her friend, who nodded. Mellie frowned. Greasers? Hoods? She understood what a hood was, but the term 'greaser' was unfamiliar to her. Also, why did she have the feeling they were talking about Johnny and his friends? Admittedly, she didn't know Johnny very well, but Mellie was certain of one thing: he was far too kind to be a hood.

Sure, he and his friends might dress a little less… nice that the others, and Johnny might've smelled like cigarettes this morning, but that didn't mean anything.

Surely, Johnny and his friends weren't hoods, right?

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><p><strong>Remember guys, unedited. Constructive criticism is welcome, and tell me if there are some bad typos!<strong>


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter Two

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><p>Mellie sat down on her bed, thinking about what she had heard the day before."<em>Look at those Greasers, stinking up the place with their cigarettes and dirt. The nerve of those hoods.." <em>Greaser.. What a weird word. She had meant to ask Johnny about it at school today, but he wasn't there. Honestly, she had missed him. English was bad enough as it was, but it had been unbearable without Johnny, who always understood the deeper meanings to the poems that she just stared at in frustration. Geometry had been just as bad; that class was full of rich looking kids that always seemed so fake and choked her out with perfume and cologne.

She groaned pathetically as she realized Johnny was her only friend. Mellie thought that maybe, just maybe, she should try to make more friends. But the people in her school seemed so closed off and separated. And she never was very good at making friends in the first place...

At that moment, her thoughts were interrupted by a phone call. Mellie ran over to the phone and picked up the receiver.

"Hello?" She asked in a polite voice

"Mel! It's you!" A loud female voice bellowed through the speaker and Mellie winced; she only knew one person that loud.

"Jen! You finally called!" Mellie replied with a grin on her face. Jennifer Summers had been her closest friend for as long as she could remember; they were still close, even though she had moved to New York months before Mellie moved to Tulsa. She was sassy and loud, with a red-hot temper to match her fiery hair.

"What do you mean 'finally'? I've been waitin' for you to call once you were settled in!" Her friend accused, and Mel sighed.

"I'm sorry Jen, it's just that I've been real busy with everythin'. This school gives out more homework than Norman High." Mel said with a slight laugh.

"Oh, it's alright Mel. It doesn't matter. What have you been up to? Tell me about Tulsa and your school! Have ya made any friends? Are there any cute boys?" Jen asked excitedly, and unwillingly, an image of Johnny popped into her head. Mel shook her head at her friend and her thoughts.

"Well, Tulsa's bigger than Norman, that's for sure. Classes are basically the same, I'm not doing very good in English right now, as usual. We're doing poetry." Mel paused as she heard Jen chuckle; they both knew that Mellie could never read in between the lines. She took things as they were.

"But there is one thing that's real weird about school. It's all divided into two groups. I haven't quite figured out why, but I think one of the groups are called Greasers. And the other group is the complete opposite; they're all rich and popular and fake. Or, I think they're fake, at least." Mellie rambled. Honestly, Jen was the only one who could get her to talk. She just had such a vibrant personality, you couldn't help but join in.

"Really? Maybe they're in a bunch of gangs or somethin', and they're at war with each other. Tell me more about it when you find out what's going on. And also," Jen's voice crept into a sly tone.

"You never did answer my last question." She said playfully.

"What question?" Mellie asked, hoping to avoid this topic. But to no avail.

"Oh, come now, Ms. Arnolds. Don't play dumb with me. Who's the guy?" Jen asked, and Mellie groaned; she hit the nail right on the head, as usual.

"You caught me. There _is _this one guy, and he's awful cute. But I don't like him like that! He's just a friend. You know I really have to know a guy before anythin' happens." Mellie answered quickly.

"Alright, alright, I'll lay off you. But tell me, what's he like? What does he look like?" Jen questioned excitedly.

"Well…" Mellie paused as she thought of how to describe Johnny.

"He's kinda small, and he's tan with shaggy, greased up, black hair. He's got these big dark eyes, they must be brown, but they look black; I can't even see his pupils. And he has a scar, I think, on the side of his face. I wonder how he got it…" She drifted, getting distracted.

"You should ask him." Jen suggested.

"Jen, you…. You know I can't do that. It's a bad lookin' scar, and he probably doesn't want to talk about it. He doesn't talk much as it is. He's really quiet." Mellie said, shaking her head. Jen was always the loudmouth, unafraid to speak her mind to anything and anybody. Mellie had always been the more reserved one, the one to pull her out of bad situations she got into because of her mouth. Mellie chuckled as she remembered the time Jen had gone and nearly gotten kicked out of her favorite restaurant for cussing out the waiter who had tried to flirt with her.

For a moment Jen was silent, and Mellie got a bad feeling. Whenever Jen was quiet, she was plotting something. Mellie always knew because otherwise Jen would have shared her thoughts with her ecstatically.

"Jen, I don't know what you're thinking, but I know you're plottin' something. Whatever it is, No." Mellie said. Knowing Jen, she had probably already planned everything out and was ready to put it in action.

"Aw, but Mel…"

"Don't 'but Mel' me, Missy. I know you're planning something for me and I don't wanna hear it." Mellie had always been too shy to do whatever wild ideas her best friend had concocted.

"Alright Mel, You're serious. I get that. But I won't forget this. Remember that, okay? This isn't the end!" Jen said dramatically, and Mellie chuckled.

Suddenly, Mellie heard the door in the living room open and the sound of her parent's voices.

"Hey Jen, I gotta go. My parents just got home. I'll call you tomorrow, okay?" Mellie said, and said bye to her friend.

Mellie walked into the living room and greeted her parents.

"Hey Mom, Dad. Where were you two at?" Mellie asked as her mom laid her coat on the couch.

"Oh, we went out and visited this restaurant on Main St. It was great, they had this soup dish that was delicious! It had this odd spice and there was this…" Mellie had tried to listen, but mostly her parents talked about trivial things like clothes and friends and everything else her parents liked.

"That's real nice, Mom. It sounds good."

"I'm sorry we didn't take you with us, it's just your father worked late and I got caught up at the store lookin' for paint colors I liked so we could repaint the living room. That really is an awful color.." Her mom rambled, looking at the mustard yellow walls. For once, Mellie had to agree. She had nothing against yellow, but she didn't want her house painted that color.

"It's fine. Did you bring any food back?" Mellie asked, though she had already eaten. Maybe she could bring something to school tomorrow for lunch. The school had a single microwave that she could use to heat her food up. It might take her a few minutes to figure out how to work it, but she would eventually get it.

"As a matter of fact, I did. There's some chicken noodle soup in the kitchen." Her mom said, leaving the kitchen and heading to her bedroom. Mellie sighed, following her mom to go to bed.

Johnny didn't show up the next day, either. Or the day after that. However, on Friday, Johnny finally showed up, to Mellie's delight. When she saw him come into the class, a smile graced her face. She turned to him as he sat down.

"There you are," She greeted with a smile. He was back.

"We took a quiz on Tuesday, but it wasn't that important. And we have a test next week in Geometry." Mellie said, deciding not to ask where he had been. That was his business, though she was curious. Johnny gave her a small smile. Mrs. Pyne passed out an Edgar Allan Poe poem and Mellie mentally groaned. She was sick of poetry; it never made any sense.

Later that day, Mellie sat in Geometry, struggling to copy down the notes

Mr. Brunner was writing up on the chalkboard (he had notoriously bad handwriting), when she noticed that Johnny, who sat at the in front to her, had fallen asleep. Hoping Mr. Brunner wouldn't notice, she gently reached over and placed her hand on Johnny's shoulder, shaking him awake. Immediately he sat up, his eyes were wide and he gasped before looking at Mellie. When he noticed it was just her, his breathing turned normal.

"Sorry…. I just.. didn't want you to get in trouble." Mellie said meekly, feeling bad for waking him up.

"oh.. It's okay." Johnny said, and Mellie nodded. She looked at his blank worksheet.

"You know… if you-" Mellie started,

"Miss Arnolds, Mister Cade, my class is not your socializing hour. You can finish your discussion in detention today." Mr. Brunner interrupted, and Mellie's heart stopped. Detention? She'd never had detention before. Mellie cupped her head in her hands. What would her parents say? They'd be so mad when they found out..

Shortly after Mr. Brunner gave them detention and wrote them pink slips, Mellie walked down the hall to Mrs. Avaril's room, where Mellie and all the other unfortunate students would be spending their afternoon. When she got in there, Johnny had already sat down.

"Johnny, I'm so sorry! I didn't want you to get in trouble, but instead I ended up gettin' us both in trouble! I'm really sorry! Are you mad?" Mellie said, tears pricking at her eyes. Johnny was her only friend, and she had gone and landed him in detention. Guilt was gnawing at her insides.

"It's alright, Mellie. I'm just glad we got Mrs. Avaril instead of Mr. Wesley. Mrs. Avaril is real easy on us. I ain't mad." Johnny said, and Mellie gave a weak smile.

"Really? It's okay if you're mad." Mellie rambled.

"It's fine, honestly."

Mellie sat down in a corner of the classroom, while Mrs. Avaril glanced up at her students occasionally from her copy of _Vogue. _Mellie glanced around the room cautiously. She recognized a few people, but most were unfamiliar to her. She pulled out her textbook, attempting to get her Geometry homework over with. _Okay, so the triangles are similar, but do I put 2x + 7 above 45? Or do I put x + 9 there instead?_, Mellie thought before placing her pencil down on the desk and giving up (she could always do it later) before turning to Johnny.

"Hey Johnny?" She asked, and the quiet teen turned to her.

"What do you wanna do when you get out of here?" Mellie asked. Johnny paused for a moment.

"I never really gave it much thought. Gee, I don't know." Johnny said, a frown on his face.

"Well that's fine. Lot's of people don't know what they wanna be when they grow up.I know what I want to be though; a chef. I'd like to own my own restaurant someday, maybe here, in Tulsa." Mellie sighed with a smile, envisioning her future restaurant.

"I wouldn't cook that fancy food, just the good stuff. Home food. Like.. chicken and dumpling soup, roast beef, and apple pie.. mmmmm. I'll make sure to give you a discount. A big one. Not those 10% discounts at the store that don't do any good, either." Mellie said casually.

"Really?" Johnny asked, surprised.

"Sure, why not? I mean, you're the only friend I got here. I gotta keep you around somehow." Mellie joked, and Johnny cracked a smile.

"You don't hafta bribe me with food, Mellie."

"Who ever said I was bribin' you? I call it 'persuasion'." They both chuckled. And from that day on, Mellie and Johnny only got closer and closer.

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><p><strong>And here's Chapter 2! I'm gonna spend a good amount of probably at least the first 10 chapters with them being just friends so Mellie has a chance to get to know Johnny and the gang. After that, they'll slowly develop feelings for one another. By the beginning of the book, Johnny and Mellie will have full blown crushes on one another. <strong>


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